New York – Kimberly Belflower knew that “John Proctor is the villain” needed his final cathartic scene to work, and, for that, he needed Mister “Green Light”.
“I literally told my agent: ‘I would prefer that the work would not be done if you can’t use that song'”, the playwright laughed. She wrote a letter to Lorde, explaining what the song meant, and obtained her green light.
Protagonist SinkThe play played on high school students studying “the crucible” like the #Movimiento MetoO He arrives in his small city in Georgia, won seven Tony nominationsIncluding the best new play, the greatest amount of this season. It is among a group of Broadway shows that have focused the stories of young people and attracted the public to coincide.
Sam Gold’s Brooklyn-rave faces “Romeo + Julieta”, nominated for the best revival of play and directed by Connor Kit and Rachel Zegler With music from Jack AntonoffHe drew the youngest audience that buys for tickets recorded on Broadway, the producers reported, with 14% of ticket buyers from 18 to 24 years, compared to the average industry of the 3% industry.
The programs share some DNA: pop music (specifically the styles of Antonoff, who also produced “Green Light”), Hollywood stars with fanatical bases and established stories that reflect the complexity of young adults.
“It was very clear that the young people found our show because I was doing what the theater should do,” Gold said. “Be a mirror.”
The issues investigating “John Proctor” do not dance (until they literally are). Girls quickly discuss the impact of #Metoo, intersectional feminism and sexual autonomy. His conversations, faithful to adolescence, are full of references of comedy and pop culture: Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, “Twilight” and, of course, Lorde.
Fina Strazza, 19, portrays Beth, a leader who is intelligent and well -intentioned, but whose friends and belief system are shaken by the revelations of the work.
“You have so much empathy and you are so interested in it, but it still has these mishaps and landslides that young people often have,” said Strazza, nominated for the best outstanding actor in a play. Some members of the audience have given them letters that detail how Beth helped them forgive themselves by how they handled similar experiences.
The script is written in prose, with frequent line breaks and rare capital letters. Director Danya Taymor, nominated for the best direction of a play one year after winning one Tony for another teenage canon classic, “Stranges, “He was attracted to that rhythm, and how the representation of Belflower’s adolescence captured his intensity, as he had done Hinton.
“There is something in the years of adolescence so raw,” Taymor said. “None of us can escape him.”
During his winning production of Tony of “An enemy of people” Gold found himself having conversations with young actors and attending the theater about climate change, politics and how “theater was something that people of their age and younger really need in a different way, since the world is becoming so addicted to technology,” he said.
That conjured “Romeo and Julieta.” The original text “has everything in terms of what the future means that the elderly that you have created,” Gold said.
Building the world of this show, with a set under 30, was not different from building “an enemy of people”, set in the nineteenth century Norway, Gold said: “I think the difference is that the world I did for this show is something that a very hungry audience had not come to see.”
Fans, gold predicted correctly, were voracious. The demand before the first view caused a preventive extension. Word (and smuggling video) of Connor making a pullup to kiss Zegler made the rounds. “Man of the house”, a ballad produced by Antonoff sung by Zegler Mid-Show, was released as a single. With the program that premiered just before the presidential elections of the United States, tomorrow’s voters even registered new voters in the lobby.
The public proved to be willing to pay: the average prices of tickets were around $ 150. Rush and Lottery’s cheapest tickets drew lines hours before the box office was opened. Every week less one was exhausted.
“The program was initially sold very well because we had a cast that attracted a really specific audience,” said producer Greg Nobile of Seaview Productions. “We continued seeing that the houses sold out because these audiences arrived, and they were online talking about the ways in which they really felt seen.”
Thomas Laub, 28, and Alyah Chanelle Scott, 27, began the productions of Runyonland for that same reason.
“We both felt a lot of frustration with the industry, and the ways in which we were taken from it as students in Michigan who could come to New York in moderation,” said Laub. Runyonland was launched in 2018 with the premise that highlighting new bold voices would bring changes.
This spring, Scott, known for playing Whitney in HBO’s “Sexual lives of university girls” He acted out of Broadway in “All Night” by Natalie Margolin.
“I was standing on stage and looking and seeing the university students who was playing,” Scott said. “I thought: ‘I respect you a lot. I want to make you proud. I want to show you a story that represents you in a way that does not belittle or degrade you, but it elevates you.'”
The co -production of “John Proctor,” Scott said, gave Runyonland the opportunity to aim at that audience at Broadway scale. Belflower developed the program with the students as part of a collaboration project of the University of La Granja. He has graduated more than 100 times for high school and university productions. Social and influential marketing of Broadway production is also administered by 20 and so many.
The previous views attracted fans with a ticket lottery of $ 29. Although the average prices rose to more than $ 100 last week (even below the Broadway average), the $ 40 tickets, lottery and room standing have exhausted most of the nights, which pushes the capacity of more than 100%. Success is validating Runyonland’s mission, said Laub.
“Alyah doesn’t believe me that I cry at the end,” Laub said. Scott laughs. “I just want to make sure, in the registry, that I really cry every time.”
The final scene of “John Proctor” is a recovery fed by Rage and “Green Light”. Capture this electricity has been key to program marketing.
“The pullup (in ‘Romeo + Juliet’) is very shocking because it is very real. It’s like exactly what a teenager would do,” Taymor said. “I think when you see the girls in ‘John Proctor’ shouting … hits you in a visceral way.” That cry made Playbill cover.
“In my opinion, the appearance of that campaign feels different from a traditional theatrical campaign, and feels much closer to a film campaign,” said Laub. The de facto program team considered the infiltrating work of its sister industries, specifically Studies such as Neon and A24.
In May, “John Proctor is the villain” ended his second “week of the spirit” with a day of school spirit. The previous events included a social ice cream – served actors Van Leeuwen – A silent disco and a draw for prohibited books. For those who are not in the colors of their own school, the merchandise position offered shirts, including a printed with the Walt Whitman channeling line, Shelby said: “I answer multiple crowds.”
Julia Lawrence, 26, designed the shirt after the program of the program VIO his Tiktok video reinventing his traditional merchandise in something more like a concert shirt.
“It’s amazing to take the Z generation to the theater in that way, especially at a time when the theater has never been more important,” said Lawrence. “In a world dominated by screens, live art can be such a powerful way to find understanding.”
___
To obtain more coverage of the Tony 2025 awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/tony-awards.
